


The End Is The Beginning Is The End

by BobRussellFan



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-02-01 06:55:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21426949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BobRussellFan/pseuds/BobRussellFan
Summary: In 2387, Ambassador Spock has a visitor.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 64





	The End Is The Beginning Is The End

2387  
Romulus 

There was a slight noise, almost inaudible even to an elderly Vulcan's ears, and Spock turned around. "...Michael Burnham. I did not expect to see you here." He had been in the midst of packing his small essentials for the forthcoming voyage to Vulcan, and now stood with his bag on the bed behind him, half-full of toiletries. 

His sister, his not-sister, his enemy and his friend, stepped forward. It was clearly her even with over one hundred and thirty years between now and their last encounter. She had aged significantly since, dark hair shot thickly through with grey, but clearly she had seen far fewer years than he had. There were some humans left of her generation, here in the dying days of the 24th century. But not many. _Not anymore._ She stepped towards him, her eyes wide, an expression that he knew was reflected on his own features - albeit with rather more self-control. 

"Spock, I don't have much time." She looked around the small sleeping quarters that were all Ambassador Spock required at his age and said, "I'm here...I'm here because I wanted to see you." He caught the lie, but chose to say nothing about it as she raised her hand to him in salute. 

"I am...pleased to see you alive," he said truthfully, raising his hand to her in the salute's return - then, crossing the space between them with an alacrity that briefly belied his age, to actually place his hand against hers for a long, necessary moment. She was real, then; cool and human to his touch. How did he feel to her, he briefly wondered? Skin loose, joints showing the signs of what was essentially a human's arthritis in a Vulcanoid frame? 

She stared at him, momentarily uncertain, then asked, "Aren't...aren't you going to ask how I got here?" She was wearing a Starfleet uniform of the 2250s - highly unlikely that it was an original, given that she looked to be between seventy to ninety Standard years old. _Of course,_ he thought quickly. _The Temporal Prime Directive._ It was, he supposed, good to know those things were being followed in whatever place she was now.

Spock considered the question for a moment, then raised an eyebrow. "Given that I felt a tactile response when I touched your hand, it is highly unlikely you are a symptom of Bendii's Syndrome. Therefore, I assume you are here because you have traveled in time." 

Burnham stared at him for a moment, then sighed softly. "I-I guess some things don't change." She looked at him, then surprised him with an embrace - one that after a moment's hesitation, he returned. "I'm sorry, Spock." She released him and stepped back, her eyes darkening. "I didn't know about the Bendii's. How advanced is it?" 

"Treatment for Bendii's Syndrome has advanced significantly since the mid-23rd century," he assured her. "With access to continued medication, I should be able to indefinitely delay the onset of symptoms past the first stage." He considered a moment, wondering what she knew, and asked frankly, "Are you aware of Sarek's fate?" 

"Yes. Yes, I was there for him." She looked away, pain edging her words. 

Spock considered Burnham's look, and felt to his surprise a flash of the old resentment bubbling up inside him. He felt the emotion, acknowledged it, and allowed himself to express a fraction of it. At his age, he judged that the cause was sufficient. 

"Is that so?" 

Burnham met his eyes, emotion flaring in hers, and said, "Yes." She looked away for a moment, then said, "I gave him back what he gave to me, and we...spoke, for a while. Amanda was...was too soon, we couldn't be sure. But by the 2360s...we knew it was done. " 

With _that_ subject raised, Spock moved on before he could feel further emotions. "Then the threat of Control has been removed? I am gratified to hear that." And he certainly was. "I delayed my emigration to Romulus for several decades until I was sure that the Federation had prepared sufficient countermeasures against cybernetic incursion." That had been in the wake of the Borg attack, but he trusted that his time-traveling sister didn't need to be briefed on that subject. 

"And what about this? _Romulus_?" asked Burnham, looking with interest around the office. "Ambassador to Romulus? Speeding unification?" She smiled at him. "That's important work, Spock. You should be proud of what you have done." She hit the word proud with emphasis. 

"Michael, you should remember that pride is illogical," he reminded her patiently, feeling as if he was addressing a younger cousin given the disparity in their ages. "I am content with what I have done here, and hope to do more." He studied her for a moment, then asked the leading question on his mind. "Are you here because of the Hobus supernova?" 

"...no," she said, tugging at her tightly braided hair in the way that meant she was not lying but was keeping something from him. What could it-oh, of course. He had been distracted after all. "I don't have much time," she repeated, "I just wanted to tell you...to tell you I'm sorry." She wasn't quite weeping, but she was poised on its edge. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. I never even met your wife, or your-" 

Spock raised his hand, finding himself moved by her words - and once again clasped her hand in the Vulcan fashion. "Michael, you were always with me," he told her truthfully. "Even after the assassination of Chancellor L'Rell, your work set the stage for a lasting peace with the Klingons - allowing for the survival of the Federation in the 24th century. Your escape from Control made possible the peace and prosperity of the 2260s and all that subsequently unfolded." He stroked his chin and added, "I have integrated your personal advice into everything from my choice of friends to my decisions about my personal grooming. So in a very real sense, you have always been with me." 

She was weeping now - and though he couldn't join her in that, he could put his arm around her in the human fashion, his tight shields ignoring the stray thoughts that battered against them from the sustained tactile contact. Brother and sister said little for a while, until finally she stepped back and looked at him. 

_Has my spine compacted so much in only a hundred and thirty years?_ he asked himself, feeling vaguely scandalized by the evidence of his body's material deterioration. _Perhaps I should resume my nutritional supplements after all..._ 

"Thank you, Spock. Thank you for being my brother." She scrubbed her eyes, then admitted, "After this, I go back. Talos IV, Vulcan, Romulus...it's been like old home week." Spock's first thought was that he never remembered her having visited Romulus - his second was that she had just confirmed his guess about exactly why she had come to this place in time. 

"Are you...well?" he finally asked her. He found himself wanting to believe that she was. What else could he say - that he had kept the vow of secrecy since her departure, even with those closer to him than family? That when his meditations had been interrupted by clouded emotions, that too often it was with thoughts of the sister who had given up career , freedom, and even her life, all so that the Federation could survive? That in the moment before he had touched Leonard McCoy's face more than a century earlier, he had wondered if he would see Michael Burnham after the radiation had killed him.

"Oh, we've had our moments," she said with a small laugh that told him much. "But...but things are good. Don't worry about me." There was a faint chiming from her gold chest chevron, he saw the pain in her eyes - and she raised her hand in salute again. "If you think of me," she told him, "think of me making Discoveries. And pack something warm, Spock!" She smiled, and he decided to remember that smile when everything else was done. "You're so old!" 

"I will follow your advice," he promised. "I have thought of you often," he said. "and will do so as long as I am able. Thank you for being my sister, Michael Burnham." He watched as she faded away, going to some place he could not follow. Alone in his room, he considered his options. 

So he would die - perhaps on the voyage to Vulcan to plead for Vulcan support for Romulus, perhaps on the way home, but soon. He looked down at his traveling bag, and after a moment resumed his packing. It seemed there was much work to do.

**Author's Note:**

> Share your thoughts, folks!


End file.
